| |
Crucial elements | The Argentinian speed of attack
The speed with which Argentina's jets were able to attack HMS Coventry and HMS Broadsword was a key factor in their success.
Although A4 Skyhawks have a good combat record they were used in the Yom Kippur and Vietnam wars they were, in 1982, relatively outdated machines. They were able to move quickly, however, travelling at 9 miles per minute. This is not particularly fast by current fighter jet standards today a Russian MiG 1.42 can travel at more than 25 miles per minute but given the situation in which the Skyhawks were attacking, this velocity was more than sufficient.
The planes were able to break cover from behind a land mass while travelling at around 500 mph. This gave HMS Coventry and HMS Broadsword less than 80 seconds to lock on to the planes with their radar and shoot them out of the sky.
Overview |
Inadequate radar |
Computer failure |
Obstruction by Coventry
|
|
